Why is Paul Fighting the NSA? For You

Last week, Senator Rand Paul spoke ten and a half hours on the senate floor in order to delay the vote for the extension of the Patriot Act, otherwise known as the law that makes it legal for the US government to listen to your calls and go through your emails. While many believe that “if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear,” that is under the pretense that the government is free of corruption, and many know that this is not always the case. Senator Paul believes that safety does not have to sacrifice personal freedom, and that as the NSA waxes, our personal liberties will wane.

It is important as voters to never put full faith in the government. As absolute power corrupts absolutely, the federal government’s rapid growth will only make citizens have less power. While we should respect our government, we should always remember that they are accountable to us, not the other way around. It is purely propaganda that the government can do it better, and as we have seen with the roll out of Obamacare, this rarely is the case.

For this reason, Paul is opposing the Patriot Act, and is also looking at other government branches that are growing at Americans’ expense. The Federal Reserve, the IRS, Obamacare- they hold tax payers to a standard, but do not hold themselves to the same accountability. For example, think about Lois Lerner and that IRS scandal. After it came to Congress’ attention that she was targeting Tea Party groups, her computer conveniently crashed, erasing any evidence. Think about if this happened to someone who was targeted by the IRS, they most definitely would not have gotten off that easily. Another example is Hillary Clinton, who while Secretary of State used a personal email address with her own server, and conveniently also deleted thousands of emails removing any evidence of wrong doing.

Senator Rand Paul is making an important point. He believes strongly in the Constitution for its value of individual rights. As the government gains more control, it only takes one person to use all the information about you to hurt you. The Founding Fathers set up our government the way they did for a reason, and it was with the purpose to allow Americans to live freely, and to restrain the power of the government. For this reason, it is more important now than ever for Americans to get informed of political happenings in Congress, and fight to protect their individual rights.